A prototype U.S. Navy program is turning to blockchain technology to help track aviation parts throughout their life cycles. The approach automates what is now a mostly manual process and provides aircraft maintenance personnel with accurate, detailed information about each part’s origins and order/reorder status.
U.S. Navy
September 11, 2018
Vice Adm. Andrew L. Lewis, USN, has been nominated for assignment as commander, 2nd Fleet, Norfolk, Virginia.
August 28, 2018
Capt. Jeffrey S. Scheidt, USN, has been selected for promotion to rear admiral and will be assigned as commander, Naval Information Warfighting Development Center, Norfolk, Virginia.
June 14, 2018
This article was updated on June 18 to reflect new information.
Autonomous vehicles, whether for land, air or sea, are already in use by the military. The services are now looking into what niche devices can provide as far as capabilities.
The U.S. Navy recently entered into a special purpose Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Fall River, Massachusetts and Sydney, Australia-based Aquabotix to examine the possibilities of the company’s micro aquatic robot.
January 9, 2018
EmilyGrace Mate has been selected for appointment to the Senior Executive Service and for assignment as the special assistant and deputy chief of staff to the Secretary of the Navy.
October 10, 2017
Rear Adm. James S. Bynum, USN, will be assigned as chief of Naval Air Training, Corpus Christi, Texas.
August 7, 2017
Kratos Technology and Training Solutions Inc., San Diego, California, is being awarded a $46,217,067 firm-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for program planning, and technical and instructional services to support the government of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 goals. Work will be performed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (30 percent); Jubail, Saudi Arabia (30 percent); Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (30 percent); Ras al Ghar, Saudi Arabia (5 percent); and Orlando, Florida (5 percent), and is expected to be completed in August 2020. Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $15,405,689 are being obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
August 4, 2017
Six 3 Advanced Systems Inc., doing business as BIT Systems Inc., Dulles, Virginia, is being awarded a $29,848,193 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, performance based contract (N65236-17-D-8009) with provisions for cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price task orders. This contract is for life-cycle support for the Red Falcon systems installed on Navy ships and shore stations to include engineering, technical support services, software upgrades and maintenance, and depot level repair in support of Ship's Signal Exploitation Equipment Increment F and Cryptologic Carry On Program.
May 8, 2017
Direct feedback and technical evaluations from warfighters and senior leadership participating in an amphibious, autonomous warfare exercise could affect the way the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps look at prototyping and rapidly acquiring technology. By pairing sailors and Marines with scientists and technologists, the Ship-to-Shore Maneuver Exploration and Experimentation Advanced Naval Technology Exercise (S2ME2 ANTX) will help increase the pace of innovation, says Dr. David E. Walker, director of technology, Office of Naval Research (ONR).
April 20, 2017
The Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division's (NSWC PCD) Aviation Unit is working with the Aviation Unit and Fleet Liaison Office to establish an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) flight program. Created to support the command's research, development, test and evaluation mission, the program will foster innovations in payloads and mine warfare as well as expeditionary warfare systems.
In the near future, NSWC PCD will be qualifying and designating the aviation detachment pilots as the initial cadre of air vehicle operators and unmanned aircraft commanders. Soon after, they will hold an inaugural training class to qualify command civilians and non-aviation personnel for flight.
February 1, 2017
Cleaner, more modular software that can be updated with less fuss tops the U.S. Navy’s wish list as it girds its fleet for warfighting in cyberspace. These advances would not only help the service stay atop the wave of information system innovation but also contribute to better security amid growing and changing threats.
The Navy wants industry to develop operating systems and software from the start with fewer bugs. These software products should have fewer vulnerabilities that can be exploited by an adversary, which compound the service’s efforts at cybersecurity.
February 1, 2017
All the U.S. military services have had to do more with less, but the Navy is facing a challenge that strikes at the heart of its raison d’être. Simply put, the Navy is underequipped. It does not have the number or types of ships it needs to adequately address its global role. Maintenance is backlogged, and because the supply of ready forces does not meet demand, deployments are longer. This downward curve in operating capability is reciprocal to the growth in its missions. The cost to re-establish the dominance of the Navy is significant, but it must be met—and in several areas. Further delay only adds to the expense and the risk to national security.
February 1, 2017
U.S. Navy commanders often struggle to deliver uninterrupted communications at sea without the added complications of providing command and control in denied or degraded environments. They face a double whammy of operational and technical hurdles.
Processes for developing concepts of operations are complex, painstaking and exacting. Although technology sets the boundaries for what is possible, most of the hard work is decidedly nontechnical. It lies in determining which signals and messages have priority, which data sources and destinations are critical, and which ones can be relegated—and for how long.
February 1, 2017
Advances in a plethora of military communication and situational awareness platforms have created unintended repercussions for the U.S. Navy, from the “forest of antennas” that can consume a ship’s deck to the debilitating effects of radio interference that clog airwaves and impede critical links to vessels, aircraft, drones and even satellites. Navy engineers are toiling on a handful of projects to ensure effective and secure communication links, which are so fundamental to military operations.
February 1, 2017
U.S. Navy researchers hope to advance maritime countermine technology by developing fully autonomous systems that support the service’s latest ships and doctrine. Both new threats and innovative naval systems are remaking the undersea arena in ways that render obsolete conventional countermine
December 20, 2016
Chinese naval forces returned a U.S. Navy underwater, unmanned research vessel on Tuesday, near the location where it was unlawfully seized late last week, according to a U.S. Defense Department statement.
December 16, 2016
A Chinese military ship seized a U.S. underwater, unmanned research vessel, prompting the U.S. Defense Department to launch “appropriate government-to-government channels” with the Chinese government to immediately return the vessel. On Thursday, China unlawfully seized the unclassified ocean glider while sailing in the South China Sea, according to a Defense Department news release.
The USNS Bowditch and the unmanned underwater vessel (UUV) are used to gather military oceanographic data such as salinity, water temperature and sound speed, the release states.
September 1, 2016
Integrated electronic warfare is the best and most efficient form of defense against the growing antiship missile threat that targets deployed U.S. carrier strike groups. Some experts may even argue that an integrated electronic warfare system of systems is the only capability that can protect the U.S. fleet from this threat.
February 2, 2016
It has been less than smooth sailing of late for the U.S. Navy as the superiority gap the sea service once held over adversaries rapidly narrows, its top officer says.
The onus to secure the maritime domain, both in a militaristic approach as well as commercially, falls to the United States as it jockeys to fortify global sea-based activity in an increasingly complicated environment. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson, USN, penned a strategy that directs renewed focus on how the Navy might outmaneuver and outsmart its competitors.
April 12, 2012
The Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS) Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) has been approved for full production and fielding. The MIDS JTRS is a software-based terminal that provides interoperable and secure tactical datalinks and programmable networking capabilities. Two vendors produce the system for both the U.S. Navy and Air Force. MIDS is the first member of the JTRS radio family to be approved for full production. The MIDS JTRS will soon attain initial operation capability on the Super Hornet, JSTARS and Rivet Joint platforms.
